Mitchell gets a kick out of rugby gig

Advertising industry kingpin
Harold Mitchell
is one of the best-known figures in the corporate world.

But the chairman of Aegis Media Pacific reckons occupying the same role with rugby union outfit Melbourne Rebels this year has lifted his profile even more – and in the most unlikely of places.

“What a hell of a year we’ve had," Mitchell told us. “I’ve been the president of the National Gallery of Australia, I’m the chairman of the biggest media buying agency in Australia and this year more people have wanted to talk to me about the Rebels than anything else.

“I still get it walking down the street. And there I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago, negotiating to get some paintings from the Prado Museum to be shown over here. I’m at dinner and a leading industrial figure in Spain leans over and says, ‘Harold, how about that rugby team of yours.’ How about that!"

The Rebels finish their inaugural Super Rugby season tonight with a home match against the Western Force, where a win could lift the Rebels off the bottom of the ladder.

Mitchell said Victorian Governor
Alex Chernov
and Premier
Ted Baillieu
will attend the match. The Rebels’ chairman also told us the club has definitely signed Wallabies star
James O’Connor
for next year, ironically from the Force.

The Rebels will lose money for its owners, including Mitchell, this year but he said the team should break even in the next couple of seasons. “As Kerry Packer said, you have to spend a dollar to make a dollar. And boy have we spent plenty of dollars this year."

Mitchell also confirmed he’ll attend the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year but admitted, as a relative newcomer, the code’s rules still baffle him. “It’s going to take me a lifetime to work out what’s going on out there but I can certainly understand the theatre and entertainment it provides."